Hard Hit: Dave Duerson

the Duerson family By his graduation from high school in 1978, Dave was a star student and a musician who traveled Europe playing the sousaphone with his high school band. He could run the 400-yard dash in 4.4 seconds and throw a fastball at 95 mph. He turned down an offer to pitch for the Los Angeles Dodgers, a decision that would prove spring-loaded with consequence.
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the Duerson family By his graduation from high school in 1978, Dave was a star student and a musician who traveled Europe playing the sousaphone with his high school band. He could run the 400-yard dash in 4.4 seconds and throw a fastball at 95 mph. He turned down an offer to pitch for the Los Angeles Dodgers, a decision that would prove spring-loaded with consequence.
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the Duerson family Dave was twice All-American at University of Notre Dame, and was drafted by the Chicago Bears. He would go on to spend eleven years as a safety in the NFL.
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the Duerson family Dave — shown here with his three siblings Michael, Arthur III and Viola — prided himself on his hard hits. They would take their toll. "It was called getting your bell rung or getting a dinger," his coach on the Bears, Mike Ditka, recalls. "It was a macho thing. The doctor would put his fingers up, and 95 percent of the time the guy was going back in. I do regret how concussions were treated back then."
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the Duerson family Upon his retirement from football, Dave started Duerson Foods, his own massive meat-production plant in Wisconsin, hiring his niece Yvette Fuse and her husband Henry to work for him.
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the Duerson family After work, the trio would often get together in Dave's office and drink Jack and Coke. Sometimes Dave would profess, in his matter-of-fact manner, that he was worried about his brain — in particular the left side. "It was like every week getting in a car wreck going 40 miles an hour," he'd say of his NFL career. "I know I'm going to have some problems later in life." (Dave and Yvette are shown here with actor Malik Yoba.)
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the Duerson family Dave's business discretion suffered and Duerson Foods started hemorrhaging cash on its way to failure. Always patient and pragmatic, he became prone to viciousness and tantrums. At one point, he flew into a screaming rage during a phone conversation with Yvette, and fired her and her husband. "Dave had never even raised his voice at me or cussed at me," Yvette says. "Now he's having us escorted out of the plant by security."
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the Duerson family The death of his mother in 2003, and his father — who Dave always called his "hero" — in 2009 intensified his downward spiral. "I don't think he grieved," says Yvette. Instead, he concealed his grief. He divorced his wife of 25 years and moved to Sunny Isles Beach. "It's like he knew something was wrong with him, and he wanted to get as far away from friends and family as possible," says Yvette. "He didn't want to be a burden when all his life he had been the one to help us with our burdens."
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the Duerson family Isolated, bankrupt, and besieged by creditors, on February 17 2011, Dave carefully laid out personal documents and notes in his apartment. He put two Bronze Star medals and an American flag — souvenirs from his father's army tour — on his bed, along with his own diplomas. He lay in bed and killed himself with a shot through the chest.
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the Duerson family As Dave requested, tissue from his brain was sent to be tested for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the syndrome associated with depression and suicide and tragically common among former NFL players. Those results won't be available for at least a month.
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Hard Hit: Dave Duerson

From the outside, former NFL star Dave Duerson seem to have it all: wealth, success, and notoriety. But that all changed on February 17, 2011, when Duerson took his life in his Sunny Isles Beach condo. What everyone quickly discovered, that despite his braggadocio, Duerson had no income, was heavily in debt, and was afraid he was losing his mind. Read the feature on Dave Duerson, "Hard Hit," here.

From the outside, former NFL star Dave Duerson seem to have it all: wealth, success, and notoriety. But that all changed on February 17, 2011, when Duerson took his life in his Sunny Isles Beach condo. What everyone quickly discovered, that despite his braggadocio, Duerson had no income, was heavily in debt, and was afraid he was losing his mind. Read the feature on Dave Duerson, "Hard Hit," here.